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Tiffany artisans made the irregularly surfaced Turtlebacks, a Tiffany Studio invention, by pressing glass into molds.
Tag Archives: Tiffany
Eye On Design: Tiffany Wisteria Lamps Designed by Clara Driscoll
Photo By Gail
One of Tiffany Studios‘ most popular models, the Wisteria, was priced as $400 in 1906, placing it among the firm’s most costly lamps. The glass selection for the two lamps (both circa 1901) seen in the above photo created two dramatically different interpretations of the same design. One has a refined color palette ranging from pale blue to azure and cobalt, while the other displays bold contrasts of blue and white clusters.
Wisteria abounded in LC Tiffany’s leaded glass windows and on the grounds of his country estate, Laurelton Hall, and although the vine was a Tiffany favorite, Clara Driscoll’s correspondence identifies her as the designer of the iconic Wisteria lamp, which is composed of nearly 2,000 tiny pieces of glass. Designs for the Trumpet Creeper, Grape, and Apple Blossom, each sold with the same treelike base, followed shortly after the Wisteria.
Photographed in the New York Historical Society on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Tiffany Stained Glass Window: Autumn Landscape
Autumn Landscape, 1923-24, Leaded Favrile Glass (Photo By Gail)
A tour de force of its medium, this window, executed late in Tiffany’s career, portrays the late afternoon sun filtered through a rich autumnal foliage. It was probably designed by Agnes Northrop (1857 – 1953), who was known especially for her landscapes and flowers.
No paint was used to add detail; rather, the modeling, texture and form were created solely with glass, using the full range developed at Tiffany Studios. The variegated surface was made by wrinkling glass it its molten state. Different color effects were achieved by embedding tiny, confetti-like flakes of glass in the surface. Plating – the superimposition of several layers of glass on the back of the window – added depth.
Although commissioned in 1923 by Loren D. Towle for the stair landing of his enormous neo-Gothic mansion in Boston, the window was never installed. In 1925, Robert W. de Forest, Tiffany’s close friend, donated the window to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he was president and founder of the American Wing.
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